Jump Start
by July Storms
Summary: Modern-day AU. Mike was not a Good Samaritan. At least, that was what he told himself.


**Jump Start**

**Prompt**: "You look like you could use a hand." Mike x Nanaba for Pollyannaisms on Tumblr.

**Notes**: Dorky modern-day AU.

* * *

Mike was not a Good Samaritan.

At least, that was what he told himself. The reality was that he liked helping other people—probably too much. He fed six different strays, had once stopped in his truck to help pull a disgruntled and insanely interesting woman's car out of a ditch, and babysat/housesat/petsat whenever anyone asked him.

It was nice to be needed, to feel useful.

So when Mike was driving along a rather boring highway minding his own business and he saw a car ahead of him half off the road, he decided to stop.

He pulled his car over behind theirs, put on his hazard lights, and hopped down from the cab. Their hood was open, and they were buried half inside it, muttering under their breath. "Hey," he called out as he rounded their car and stood a few feet away from them. "You look like you could use a hand."

"A jump would be more useful," the driver said, lifting their head to stare at him.

For a second, Mike forgot how to breathe.

"Well?" the driver prompted.

"Uhm," he said, sounding like a barely-sentient life form. "Sure."

And then he fled back to his truck, hoping his face wasn't red, because the driver of the normal-looking Corolla in front of his ugly truck was…

Well, she was stunning.

He fished around behind the driver's seat for the jumper cables, but the whole time he was picturing her face: blonde hair, the lightest eyes he'd ever seen in his life, and that upturned nose.

He might have been faster at getting his truck pulled around in front of her car so that he could jump it, but he was too busy thinking about her to bother. Usually he was helping eccentric motorists like Zoë or grateful old people (who would always try to pay him for his help). This was the first time that he'd offered to help someone and he'd been instantly attracted to them.

Not that it mattered.

After he parked his truck and popped the hood, he got to work hooking the cables up, and the woman started talking.

"Thanks so much," she said. "I really appreciate it. I have an interview today, and, well, I thought I was going to have to miss it, which would probably mean no job for me."

He jumped into his truck to start it, but left the door open while he revved the engine just a bit—just enough to help her battery charge. A minute passed, maybe, before he said, "Try to start your car."

He left his door open and moved to her car. When she turned the key, her Corolla started right up, and she flashed a grin at him. He held up a hand, removed the cables from both vehicles, and came around to her side again. "Let it idle for a few more minutes, just in case," he said.

"All right." She was only silent for a moment before she asked, "Thanks for helping me out."

"You're welcome."

"Can I ask your name?"

"It's Mike," he managed to say without grinning like an idiot.

She grinned, but she didn't look like an idiot at all. "Nanaba," she said, "but it's weird, so most people just call me Nana."

"I hope you get the job, Nana."

"I don't have any cash on me, but I could, uh—I could write a check! To thank you for helping me out in my time of need and all. I _am_ the idiot that left the interior light on all night, after all."

Mike could feel his ears turning red as he shook his head. "It wasn't any trouble."

"Are you sure?"

She sounded so earnest it just made him feel weird. "You should be all right now," he managed to say to her.

"Thanks, Mike." She reached her right hand over her shoulder for her seatbelt, and fastened it. "You sure I can't do something to thank you?"

He hesitated, tried to ignore Erwin's stupid voice in the back of his head, urging him on. He failed at that, and the next thing he knew, he was saying, "Well…"

"Yeah?"

God, the way she was looking at him was almost enough to knock him down. "If you'd agree to go out to dinner with me… That would be a great way to say thanks."

His ears were red. He could feel them burning.

"I hope you're paying," she said, but she was grinning and it made him feel a little better. "That's why I have this interview, you know; because I'm broke."

"Then why'd you offer to pay?"

She covered her mouth with one hand to smother the sound of her laughter, which was adorable. "I figured I wouldn't be able to find my checkbook and then we'd have to exchange numbers…or something," she said. "I don't know. I didn't have time to think of a good plan."

"Oh," he said, and he was pretty sure his nose was turning red, now, too. Goddammit. "We can exchange numbers now."

"Yeah," she said, and reached into her center console to pull out a pen. "Gimme your hand. We'll do this high school style."

When he handed her his hand, she wrote her number out on the back of it—complete with her name. Her letters were rounded and fat, but it all still fit across his hand.

"There," she said, looking pleased with herself.

He pulled his hand back to look at it more closely. "Thank you," he said, and then felt dumb for saying it.

"No," she said. "Thank _you_. Now, you saved me just in time, but I probably should go. You know…before I'm late to my interview."

He stepped back, mumbling a, "Sorry."

Nana just smiled at him, closed her car door, and then rolled down the window. "Text me so that I can add your number to my phone!"

"All right," he agreed, and tried to smother the stupid smile that was taking over his face. He was unsuccessful. But that was all right.

As Nana's Corolla pulled away, he gathered the cables up from the ground and sighed to himself, glancing every few seconds at his hand. Then he got into his truck, pulled out his phone, and put her phone number into it.

He texted her a, "Hello," and it took way too long considering his too-big hands and his phone's small smashed-together buttons.

Two hours later, he got a reply. He was glad he was inside of his house, because he smiled like an absolute fool when he heard the text message sound go off, and that smile only grew when he saw Nana's name on his phone screen.

The message said: "Hi Mike. They offered me the job! What do you think of dinner tonight to celebrate?"

It took him five minutes to send his reply: "That sounds really nice. Where should I meet you?"


End file.
